The blueberry farm owner was remembered for her dedication

Lorri Duckworth was a woman on a mission.

That mission manifested itself in the wildly popular blueberry u-pick that was consumed by thousands of people on her farm in Sebastopol every summer and which a friend told her was harder to get tickets than front-row seats to The Rolling Stones .

But for Duckworth, the blueberries were a bonus in a much bigger picture, said Craig Anderson, executive director of external affairs at LandPaths, who befriended Duckworth because of their shared love of the land in Sonoma County.

“This is one of those small family farmers, even though she loved her produce and her blueberries, even more she loved… seeing people reconnect with local food and our sense of history that comes from nurturing of the land and feeding each other,” Anderson said.

Duckworth died of cancer on April 25. She was 62.

Born in Apple Valley, her family moved often when she was a child. When she was 16, they moved to Grant’s Pass, Oregon. There she met Oscar Duckworth.

He said their bond was immediate and they became inseparable through more than 40 years of dating and marriage.

They married right out of high school and Lorri began a career in the fashion industry as a buyer, but her dream of a farm was what really drove her.

But it wasn’t just any farm she was looking for, her husband said. It was “The Farm” in her mind that led them on a yearlong search through nine states before they finally found it in 2001 on Canfield Road in Sebastopol.

They moved with their young daughters, Snazzy and Lauren, from Marin County to the 82-acre property in Sebastopol, which contained a 100-year-old farmhouse that needed a lot of TLC.

Duckworth has gone above and beyond to bring her vision for the farm to life.

She grew blueberries wholesale and sold them to Oliver’s market, but her goal was always to have a u-pick farm on the property, which she started in 2019.

It grew beyond her wildest imagination in 2020, as people began looking to connect with community in outdoor spaces that felt safe.

Oscar Duckworth said his wife thoroughly enjoyed the work, which he described as “all-consuming.”

She transformed an old goat shed into a cookhouse, which she called her “happy place” in a 2023 interview.

“It meant the world to her because of her passion for cooking,” Oscar said. “Her hundreds of cookbooks were there. She went there to feel good, to cook for her family, for parties, for events. Cooking was her art.”

Guests enjoyed Duckworth’s edible works of art on u-pick days when she made blueberry rosemary focaccia, blueberry jam cookies and her award-winning blueberry ice cream.

“Her goal was to give every student in Sonoma County an ice cream cone, and she almost accomplished that,” Oscar said.

Duckworth hosted hundreds of schoolchildren on field trips to her farm through a partnership with LandPaths, as well as a summer camp through Santa Rosa City Schools. She especially wanted to take care of children who had never been on a farm before.

“She wanted children to understand nature, that the blossom comes before the fruit,” says her daughter Lauren.

One of Duckworth’s mantras was that the lesson of teaching children about agriculture should be as long as their arm – that reaching out to pick a blueberry and putting it in their mouth would teach them profound lessons about food and where it comes from.

In addition to schoolchildren, Duckworth developed a close bond with the firefighters of the Gold Ridge Fire District, inviting them to the farm on u-pick days and donating berries for their pancake breakfasts.

“She was kind enough to share it,” said Shepley Schroth-Cary, fire chief with the Gold Ridge Fire Protection District. ‘I don’t think she ever did it for the money. She really wanted to share agriculture and her passion with others”

Her kindness and compassion were matched by what Anderson of LandPaths described as her “Joan of Arc spirit,” recalling a time she struck up a conversation with local relief organizations about how she was managing the creek that ran through her property.

He said Duckworth’s legacy is a message to others, especially young, emerging farmers.

“You can be successful in providing land and food that goes beyond just a commercial enterprise to a truly world-changing enterprise.”

Despite her bold mission, Duckworth shunned the spotlight, preferring to stay in the background on u-pick days. She spent her time cooking and watching families come to the farm to relax and connect with nature.

Friend Sheri Graeber stepped in as a volunteer operations manager to help provide more structure when it became clear that the u-pick days were going to be much bigger than expected. During peak blueberry season, the farm sometimes hosted as many as 800 people per weekend.

At the end of each u-pick day, Duckworth made homemade pizza or pasta for the twenty or so volunteers, and everyone sat together and shared a meal, as well as stories about another successful day.

“I always think about looking at her face as we went around the table and told the great stories (of the day),” Graeber said, noting that Duckworth loved watching children grow as families grow year after year returned. “You could just tell that she loved each one of them and she was so into it.”

Graeber said Duckworth spent time in the field last winter pruning blueberry bushes and believed this year would be a good year.

She said Duckworth’s family and volunteers are committed to ensuring the u-pick days cherished by so many will continue.

The family will release details of a public memorial service later this week on the Duckworth Family Farm Facebook page.

You can reach staff writer Jennifer Graue at 707-521-5262 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @JenInOz.